No regrets: If Mitch Trubisky struggles again, would Bears dare rent a QB?

When Bears general manager Ryan Pace makes a bold move, he defends it the same way.

The day he fired coach John Fox, Pace was asked why signing quarterback Mike Glennon didn’t work.

“I have no regrets in us being aggressive in attacking that position,” Pace said in January 2018.

What about hiring coach Matt Nagy?

“What’s so great about Matt is to operate with no regrets, be aggressive at the right times,” Pace said in January.

Why’d he trade up to draft running back David Montgomery?

“We kind of operate with a ‘no regrets mindset,’ ” Pace said in April.

The NFL’s trade deadline is Tuesday. If the Bears can beat the Chargers on Sunday, they’ll have a winning record, a chance at a playoff berth — and a quarterback, Mitch Trubisky, that they don’t know if they can trust.

Pace could fix that by trading for his replacement.

No regrets, right?

Quarterback is the most important position in sports. Teams rarely get rid of good ones, and almost never in the middle of the season. But Pace wouldn’t have to look far to at least ask the question.

Eight-time Pro Bowl quarterback Philip Rivers is in the final year of his contract with the 2-5 Chargers, though he has a no-trade clause and nine children at home. Perhaps Rivers could be convinced that his best chance of finally reaching the Super Bowl is to toil for three months in the Midwest.

Before the 3-4 Titans beat the Chargers last week, they benched Marcus Mariota, who, like Trubisky, is a former No. 2 overall pick. Pace liked Mariota coming out of Oregon, where he won the Heisman Trophy while playing for Bears offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich. He’s in the final year of his rookie deal.

Cam Newton has a foot injury and a balky shoulder, and the Panthers have looked better without him. He’s a former MVP who started in the Super Bowl. He’d come cheaper than you’d think; while he’d count $21.1 million against the salary cap next year, cutting Newton this summer would result in only a $2 million dead cap charge.

Nick Foles signed a monster deal with the Jaguars in the offseason, broke his left clavicle in Week 1 and been swept away by Gardner Minshew mania. He isn’t eligible to return from injured reserve until Nov. 17, though, That’s too late for the Bears.

And it’s only a matter of time before the woeful Redskins start first-round pick Dwayne Haskins. They’d likely be happy to trade starter Case Keenum, who’s in the final year of his contract but might not be an upgrade over Bears backup Chase Daniel.

Trading for a quarterback sounds extreme, but the Bears must be motivated to eke every possible win out of their roster this year. Tanking is not an option. The Raiders own their first- and third-round picks from the Khalil Mack trade, while the Patriots are due a fourth-rounder from the Montgomery move-up.

That leaves the Bears bereft of draft picks in 2020 — they’ve got two second-rounders plus picks in Rounds 5-7 and a conditional Eagles pick that will fall in the fifth or sixth rounds.

That’s not enough to land Rivers. If he’d ever approve a trade, it might be to Nashville, about 100 miles north of his Athens, Alabama, hometown. Could the Bears, Titans and Chargers explore a three-way deal, with the Bears netting Mariota and parting with picks? It’d be worth a phone call.

By trading for a rental, the Bears could try to have it both ways — they’d attempt to salvage this season with a veteran and keep open the possibility Trubisky could start for them next year. That would ring hollow, though: were the Bears to replace Trubisky — with Daniel or anyone else — there’d be no going back.

Rather, logic says the Bears will continue to pour all their time, energy and hope into Trubisky, who is only a half-season removed from being a Pro Bowl alternate. Pace, who traded up to draft Trubisky ahead of Chiefs MVP Patrick Mahomes and Texans star Deshaun Watson, knows his reputation is riding on it.

Despite Trubisky’s struggles this season, the Bears’ fastest path to being a power is continuing to build a roster around his relatively affordable rookie contract for the next 2½ years.

If the Bears are buyers, it’s more likely they’ll trade for someone to help Trubisky than to take his place. The team could use a right guard and a tight end with receiving skills.

Perhaps Trubisky plays well Sunday, the way he did once he shook off the rust of a shoulder injury last year. But what if he’s an embarrassment again? What if the Bears beat the Chargers anyway, giving them a 4-3 record for only the third time since Lovie Smith was fired?

Wouldn’t Pace owe the rest of his roster — built to win now — an upgrade at quarterback for the rest of the season?

Wouldn’t he owe the fans the same?

No regrets, right?

Right?